Even though patrons of the Geary School District have made it clear they were unwilling to issue bonds to build a new K-12 campus, there are going to be a lot of changes in the existing buildings.
The board, meeting Monday night in regular session, discussed revamps, remodels and renovations of all sorts.
The wrestling room was damaged last year when the building flooded. The insurance payment will cover new ceiling tiles and heaters, essentially replacing things that were damaged beyond repair. However, the check won’t cover needed upgrades, like replacement of showers and partitions for privacy in the shower area. And the lockers – made of expanded metal so that there is sufficient air flow for sweaty singlets – are damaged. The cost of replacement is $5,000 more than repair.
However, three board members – Waylon Upchego, Ashton Jameson and Taylar Burns – were adamant the replacement cost was necessary and their arguments about safety convinced Jason Bernhardt. The board agreed to have the district pay for the upgrades and spend the extra money on new lockers instead of repairing the old ones.
Superintendent Sean Buchanan said work is flying along on the district’s newly purchased teacherage. The house, he estimated, is about two weeks away from being completed and the district will will keep looking for other properties that come up for sale or auction. The housing is secured by the district so that incoming teachers will be able to find a place to live. The dearth of rental housing in Geary has long been an obstacle to hiring teachers to come to the district.
Even with the ongoing construction and reconstruction, Buchanan said the building fund is very healthy.
“And that is by design,” he said. The schools are paying for some things that are eligible for funding through the general fund that normally come out of the building fund. The general fund is flush with high income from gross production taxes, a fee paid by exploration companies for the natural resources they harvest from the earth. Ad valorem taxes are higher as well, since every pressurization station and pipeline are also taxed.
The school board agreed with Buchanan that a storage facility near the elementary school was a good idea. Last year there was a donation of $100,000 toward the building to house lawn equipment, mowers and tractors. Currently most of that equipment is across the road from the school.
The building will be 40x60 with a pair of offices in the front. It will be insulated and the two offices will be climate controlled. The bid was let to Lopez Construction and Design, with the donation covering the lion’s share of the costs. And the much-discussed playground equipment is closer to realization. Three vendors sent bid packets, but one was disqualified due to lack of responses to additional questions. Of the other two, Noah’s Park and Playground Equipment was selected because it offered more flexibility and better pricing. Rather than selecting option A or B, the board opted to set a budget of $45,000 and then let the vendor show the school what it could get for that money in various configurations. For example, there might be eight swings and two slides, or there could be six swings and three slides.
As the meeting was drawing to a close, the board members made comments. Jameson spoke directly to the two principals who had given the reports on their buildings earlier.
“Keep up the good fight,” she said. “You are changing lives.”